Mitsubishi Claims Efficiency Record for Polysilicon Solar Cell

Feb 17, 2010 21:20 Motonobu Kawai, Nikkei Electronics

Mitsubishi Electric Corp achieved a cell conversion efficiency of 19.3% with a polysilicon solar cell measuring 15 x 15cm.

The conversion efficiency is higher than the 19.1% efficiency that was announced by Mitsubishi Electric in September 2009. And the company has broken the efficiency record with its polysilicon solar cell for three years in a low, it said. The efficiency was measured at Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST).

This time, Mitsubishi Electric added a cleaning process before forming electrodes on the front and back surfaces of a silicon wafer. As a result, the connection resistance between the silicon wafer and the electrodes was reduced by 4%, improving the conversion efficiency.

Also, the company continued to use the "honeycomb texture" structure, which reduces the light reflection on the front surface of a cell, and the "BSR (buck surface reflector)," which increases the light reflection on the back surface of a cell.

The conversion efficiency of 19.3% was achieved with a polysilicon solar cell with a thickness of 200μm. In addition, Mitsubishi Electric applied a similar technology to a 100μm-thick cell to reduce its costs and achieved a conversion efficiency of 18.1%, which is 0.7% higher than the efficiency announced by the company in August 2008. This cell also has the world's highest conversion efficiency as a thin cell measuring 15 x 15cm, the company said.

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